Zelle fraud is rising. And banks aren’t coming to the rescue

[crystal626]

---

@805orbust wrote:

I second @SweetCreditObsession position. I hate Zelle. I can't get the stupid thing to work and it took forever for the money to reach the recipient (a friend/business associate). Dude was looking at me like I was flim-flamming him. PayPal is the way to go... but NEVER keep a cash balance in there. Maybe a couple hundred or so. I've heard nightmare stories of them seizing funds for months or years with no warning...  they are not a bank and arent Subject to the rules/limitations on banks...

---

PayPal has been known to delay transactions too. I had been paying my rent with PayPal until one day they just decided to hold it until the following Monday. Called them and they told me that they just decided to wait for the ACH from my bank to clear before they sent the money. No recourse, no reasoning given, nothing. Worse, they couldn't cancel the transaction. It's a good thing my rent wasn't due right that moment and I still had four days. 

[Jeffster1]

---

@CreditCuriosity wrote:

Why I refuse to use Zelle..  To many weird things I have read can happen.  Really only trust paypal/venmo for me personally if vendor say person/vendor says zelle I walk away and say thanks, but no thanks.

---

Same here. I don't and won't use Zelle.

[Itgem679]

---

---

That might be related to your institution's per transaction, daily, and monthly limits. I ran into this during the pandemic, when Ally had a very low Zelle per transaction limit ($500). I could send $500 instantly, but anything larger would take 3 days. Ally has since raised it back to their normal high limit -- $2,000 daily (or $5,000 with a 3 day lag). Which makes me wonder if they were seeing some fraud and had to put some protections in place.

Zelle daily limits tend to be in the $1,000 to $2,000 range for larger banks, but can be significantly lower for smaller banks or CUs, if they offer Zelle at all. The monthly cap is often only a couple times the daily limit, so it's easy to bump up against that as well; and new accounts are often even more restricted. By comparison, ACH limits tend to be much higher.

---

Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure out Ally's Zelle delay. I had them for about a year and ended up closing my accounts with them because Zelle would always take days (even low amounts like $50-$300) and was never instant. My other accounts - USAA, WF - no issues at all.

[M_Smart007]

---

@Itgem679 wrote:

---

---

That might be related to your institution's per transaction, daily, and monthly limits. I ran into this during the pandemic, when Ally had a very low Zelle per transaction limit ($500). I could send $500 instantly, but anything larger would take 3 days. Ally has since raised it back to their normal high limit -- $2,000 daily (or $5,000 with a 3 day lag). Which makes me wonder if they were seeing some fraud and had to put some protections in place.

Zelle daily limits tend to be in the $1,000 to $2,000 range for larger banks, but can be significantly lower for smaller banks or CUs, if they offer Zelle at all. The monthly cap is often only a couple times the daily limit, so it's easy to bump up against that as well; and new accounts are often even more restricted. By comparison, ACH limits tend to be much higher.

---

Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure out Ally's Zelle delay. I had them for about a year and ended up closing my accounts with them because Zelle would always take days (even low amounts like $50-$300) and was never instant. My other accounts - USAA, WF - no issues at all.

---

It seems as if it is hit or miss , depending on which FI. (Bank)